Storms and Fire
by Medi-EXE
Summary: A series of drabbles in the in the life of no one other than Fire Fist Portgas D. Ace. I will not necessarily follow the storyline, but some chapters might have interactions with the main characters. Romance, humor and all that good and cute stuff will be included. Full summary inside. Enjoy. Ace x OC.
1. A Gray Cloud -Intro-

**Summary:** It seemed to be yet another bright and sunny day aboard the pirate ship Moby Dick. Fire Fist Ace, the Crew's 2nd Commander, is rather bored and wonders to himself why he keeps receiving nothing but unexciting and tedious tasks from the Oyaji these days, until he meets _her_. Troubles arise when this strange girl is brought upon the ship, but Ace finds her quite out of the ordinary. _Interesting._ And just like that, his world was turned upside down. Little did the protagonist know what his future held for him. She created storms. He was fire. And strangely, they matched one another. With each their own little broken pieces, they found that they _completed_ each other. His dejected past that he wants to forget and her wrecked present that she wants to run away from, it all matched in the end to create an unsure future. But they wouldn't take it any other way._ Ace x Azu_

**Author's notes:** Romance, humor, action, fluff, and all that good and cute stuff will be included in these drabbles. I initially intended to make a full story fanfiction, but then I realized I had no major plot with an evil guy to write, so I decided to just make drabbles. As in, I decided that I will be making mini-fanfictions, all together in here. So, yes, there might be some chapters connected, each group with little plots and different stories. That way, I can write the oh-so-loved romance scenes faster so that the bigger fans of love don't have to wait _that_ long for their favorite parts. Of course, some chapters will not have that much romance _(I don't want to bore the readers with only that stuff), _as they will describe the characters' backgrounds and normal stuff like that. I hope I won't make Ace too OoC, as this is my first try with a One Piece story.

Rated T for some mild cursing language and future mature contents. Please do enjoy this first chapter and tell me what you think with a review. ^^

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Portgas D. Ace or One Piece. That work of art belongs to Oda Eichiro, the mastermind behind everything. I own only Sakurai D. Azure, or Azu, my OC.

_**-AxA-**_

**Azu's Profile**

**Name:** Sakurai D. Azure_ (Azu for friends) _  
**Age:** 18, 29th October  
**Height:** 160cm**  
****Bounty:** 37,000,000

**Devil Fruit:** Ame Ame no Mi _(Rain and storms)_

**Type:** Logia

_**-AxA-**_

**Chapter 1**

**The sky is way too boring… Introduction**

**A Gray Cloud**

A loud sigh could be easily heard to whoever would pass by the sidelines of the deck of the infamous pirate ship Moby Dick, whose Captain was no other than Whitebeard. He was a well-known powerful pirate who survived the age of Gol D. Roger, the former King of Pirates who was now deceased. Returning to the previous sighs, the large figure that did so shifted from his sitting pose to a standing one. Placing his hands sluggishly on the railing, he gazed upwards to the far too blue sky and adjusted the orange hat on the top of his head. He noticed with another audible sigh that there wasn't a single cloud in the atmosphere, neither white nor gray, which only made it much more boring in his eyes.

"_Why the hell don't we get more exciting tasks?"_ Fire Fist Ace asked himself as he gazed idly to his comrades in the middle of the deck. _"I'll die out of boredom this way."_ He added to himself with a small annoyed frown.

There was a small group, of about 8 men, chatting about dividing some boxes and sacks of loot. They had just got it from a small island a few days ago, and were still trying to evenly divide everything, from treasure to beli. Ace had no interest in such affairs, as his boredom was the only thing he was trying to conquer. With another sigh, he turned around and looked towards the ocean once more. There were no waves, no sign of other ships, Marine or pirate, and they were supposed to arrive to the next island in about two more days. Two more annoying, utterly boring, days. For Ace it wouldn't be days, but probably years, and as he thought it would be the end of it, much to his boredom's unhappiness, he spotted something far in the ocean. He rubbed his eyes and looked closer with a small frown, thinking it might be his mind trying to trick him, again. In between the jolly blue sky was a small dark gray cloud. He kept staring at it, only to notice that there was a ship of some sorts just beneath it. He looked around the ship, but the sky was still clear blue, so it couldn't be a storm. And yet, the same gray cloud remained there, hovering over the ship as it sailed forth. That and it was raining, but only over that ship. Ace tilted his head to the side slightly as a smirk made it way to his thin-ish lips. What a weird cloud it was, and it was coming right towards him. _This should be fun_, he thought for himself. This would definitely cure his boredom for the time being. As he was about to say something to motion the Moby Dick to move faster towards the other, apparently, smaller ship, someone else reacted quicker than him.

"Cloud ahoy!" Izo, the one currently up in the mast, yelled to everyone. "There is a strange gray cloud coming this way!" he shouted as he pointed forward, exactly to where Ace wanted to go. "With a ship just below it!" he added.

Ace looked around as every man on the deck perked up at the word 'ship'. They seemed to be happy to be able to chase yet another boat in so little time. He was rather pleased too, as he would be able to finally kill his boredom. His smirk grew wider as the other little vessel seemed to have taken notice on the pirates. It was so, because it looked like it was trying to take a rash turn, but clearly wasn't fast enough to do so. He found it rather amusing the way people acted when they saw a pirate ship. As the Moby Dick grew closer to the other boat, Ace couldn't help but feel somewhat anxious to the scene displayed before his eyes. What kind of cloud was that? How did it appear there, and how come it was only raining above that small boat? Questions of the sort began filling up his mind, but before he allowed them to continue, the young man rushed over to his Striker and settled up to get there faster than everyone. Although he did so, it was not necessary because they had finally reached the smaller vessel. As the pirate went over to the railing again to take a look around, he began listening to a discussion between each party.

"We have no turf with you, pirates!" the man from the other boat said, holding his spear in a defensive way, next to another one.

Ace noticed that the men were wearing fancy clothes. Fancy _bodyguard_ clothes. That could only mean one thing: They were either escorting someone important, like some kind of patron or something; or they were transporting something of high value. But considering the size of the ship, it couldn't be the first option. It had to be some kind of treasure they were carrying. Ace's smirk grew slightly wider, knowing that his comrade pirates were thinking the same exact same thing. He remained right where he was, looking at the scene from the railing, waiting to see if something more exciting happened, as he heard them make their deal.

"… So here's the deal, you two. You give us all the treasure you are currently holding within your boat and we let you walk away unharmed." Itsuya bargained with a rather mischievous smile. "It's a win-win situation, really. Both parties get out with something. We get the treasure and you get to keep your lives."

"We have no treasure here! You better leave this instant." The second bodyguard said with a hasty voice, also holding his spear in a defensive way.

Ace couldn't help but let out a small chuckle and smirk smugly at the scene unfolding before his dark inky eyes, along with any other pirate around the area. These two men had just picked the wrong path, and he was damn happy they did, because things would surely get interesting now. From what he could tell, these men had not much experience with weapons, as they were just holding them against the pirates in a defensive way. Their knees were clearly shaking, for whoever looked at them, but what he didn't understand was why they were so keen on defending their treasure. It was clear that they had some, or else they would have already crept out and ran away in the small life boat that was stationed on the back of the vessel. Maybe they would lose their jobs if they somehow lost the loot in the middle of the journey. This fact only made Ace more interested in knowing what they were holding, thus making his anxiousness deepen significantly. What could it be that was just so important to someone that needed to be guarded so voraciously by the two newbie guards? It was apparently something big, to have caught his attention this way. Ace wasn't usually all that interested in the loots that his crewmates got, but this one made his curiosity spike quite a few levels. And he would be damned if he didn't feed his interest.

"Ah, 2nd Commander." Itsuya said with a calmer tone of voice as he looked upwards, noticing Ace examining the situation thoroughly. "I hear you have been rather bored these past days. Would you like to do the honors?" he smiled politely, motioning to the two guards.

"Sure thing." Ace said, his smirk still lingering in his lips, as he jumped to the smaller ship.

Arriving with a heavy thud from his dark boots, he calmly approached the two men. You could literally smell the fear in their eyes as they finally realized who they were dealing with there. The Fire Fist adjusted the bright orange hat on his head, clouding his eyes from the guards as he spoke up.

"You know; you should do yourselves a favor and take that lifeboat behind your ship to get out of here." He said with his typical smug smirk as he looked at them. "Like that no one needs to get hurt."

While he said that, one would probably assume that he was thinking otherwise from his expression, but in reality, Ace did not enjoy meaningless battles. Sure, fighting was fun and he was looking forward to knock over some heads and get himself stronger, but these men weren't ready to fight him, nor anyone else. That and he was also rather hungry. It was clear that they had been recently hired to transport some sort of treasure and take it to some big, fancy island, but fate had their course crash against his. Even though he did not understand why exactly, Ace was thankful for the events, because now he would be able to diminish his high boredom levels. As he saw the two bodyguards ponder his offer, he noticed that his anxiousness hadn't ceased. At all. He did wonder why, but when he saw the two bodyguards resuming their stances, his smirk grew slightly wider and he placed his thoughts aside.

"We are not going anywhere!" the first guard said.

"We were given a mission and we will not falter!" the second continued.

"Well, it's your funeral, I say." Itsuya said, taking a step back along with the other three pirates.

Ace's smirk did not waver an inch as he shifted to an offensive stance. He heard his crewmates chuckling behind him and someone saying _'Well, Commander, they're all yours now.' _before he launched at them with his burning fists. Man, did these guards made the wrong calls today or what. He had been right from the start; these two guards were not ready to battle in the slightest, as they fell rather easily. Just a couple of, not so hard, punches and the two were down like logs. Once more, Ace adjusted his hat and walked to the door the two were guarding far too willingly. Upon noticing that it was locked, he smirked again and just kicked it open, allowing his eyes to gaze upon the darkness inside the room. Once the dust had finally settled down, Ace walked inside, along with two other men, and waited for his eyes to get used to the sudden darkness. Afterwards, the other two rambled around looking for the supposed treasure, and Ace couldn't help but stare at what seemed to be a medium sized box, covered with some sort of dark drape. He walked over it with heavy steps. The box reached at about his waist and as he was about to remove the cover, Ace couldn't help but swallow silently. What could be underneath? His anxiousness still hadn't seemed to calm as he finally grabbed at the middle of the cloak and pulled backwards with a tug. His expectations crashed, however, when he saw that it wasn't just a regular everyday box. The drape fell silently to the ground, soon to be forgotten, as he saw that it was, in fact, a cage, and that there was something inside of it. No, not something, _someone._ His face made an incredulous expression as he stared at who was locked up inside the cage. It was none other than a girl. He tilted his head to the side slightly, noticing that she was wearing weird looking clothes. It was rather dark inside, but he managed to see that her hair was blue, and that she seemed to be short in height, as the cage wasn't too big for itself. After a moment of pondering, it didn't take him long to put the current pieces of the puzzle together. It was a small boat that appeared to be rather expensive. It was with fancy-looking, yet weak, bodyguards that put up a feeble fight to try to prevent them, the pirates, from entering the room he was currently inside of. She was a girl that was locked up in a cage and was wearing rags for clothes. He couldn't see anything around her neck, but he could take notice in the large thick Kairouseki chains holding her thin wrists and ankles down. His incredulous expression changed to a small frown as he realized at what he was looking at exactly. She was a slave. She was probably bought by some rich person somewhere and was being currently taken to the buyers, most likely located in the Shabondy Archipelago. All the slaves, mostly caught pirates and kidnapped people, were forcedly brought there to be either re-sold by other rich people or to be transferred to some hellhole, where they would not be ever able to run away from. Ace continued to look at her for a moment. If she really was a slave, and all odds pointed towards that, then he had to do something about it. He had been in the Archipelago before, and he had not enjoyed what he saw there. Those _Noble_, as they called themselves, were constantly bargaining the lives of innocent people and handled them as if they were nothing more than objects. It disgusted him to a whole new level. So, yes, he would definitely do something about it and this girl.

With the entire ruckus and noise the pirates were doing behind him, the girl inside the cage seemed to finally wake up from her reverie. Upon noticing that she was no longer alone in the room, she silently shifted into a sitting position and gazed back at the large man before her as he crouched down in front of her.

"Hey, look." One of the other pirates said from behind him pointing at her.

"Wait, is that..?" the second asked, clearly confused.

"Oi, are you alright?" Ace asked the girl, out of concern.

".. Freckles…?" her meek voice questioned softly.

The Fire Fist just blinked a few times as he continued to look at the girl.

And that was how he met Azu. That was how his life was turned upside down. That was when his fate dared to change.

_**End of Chapter 1**_

_**-AxA-**_

So, what did you think? Was it good for a first try? Was Ace OoC? If it was bad, please do tell me what you think where I should improve with a review. I accept constructive criticism; because there is always somewhere one can improve. Flaming is not allowed.

I already have some ideas for the next drabbles, so stay tuned. ^^


	2. Broken

**Chapter 2**

**The Bluebird can sing**

**Broken**

"Island ahoy~!" Azu sang happily from the crow's nest of the Moby Dick. She had a very happy grin plastered all over her face as she saw the shape of a land mass in the distance beginning to close in on them.

The girl looked below, towards the deck, as her pirate crewmates rustled around to get in position. They seemed to have heard her. Since the pirate ship was far too large to dock on the island's bay, a group of few men would take one of the smaller boats and go to the shore, while the others guarded the main ship. Azu was happy, because she would finally be able to do some clothe shopping. Not that she was that fan of shopping, but she did need the clothes. A small annoyed blush crept into her face as she looked down at herself. She was currently using a set of Ace's altered clothes, courtesy of Izo, the kimono-fashion freak. What was once Ace's light-yellow chemise was now something of a blouse that ended at her ribcage area and that was tied in a lace at the front side. The way the shirt currently was made a rather large cut on her chest zone. Izo had also altered one of Ace's old shorts so that they would fit her. Azu wasn't really fond of her current clothes because some of her comrades would often joke with her about it. She knew it wasn't ill intended, but she didn't like it. She was thankful for Izo's gesture, but she needed to get her own clothes. Azu had successfully saved quite some beri to be able to shop because of the pirates' previous loots. And she was going to spend that money on that island, for sure. As she was almost done descending the mast, the blue-haired girl noticed that the smaller boat was already full. Azu stopped and opened her mouth to speak, but they were faster than her.

"Sorry about that, Azu." One of the pirates said with a smirk. "You can bunk with Ace instead. Jihihihi~"

"Hey-!" She took notice in all of their giggles to themselves as the other one spoke. "Tha-That's not fair, you guys!"

She saw as they quickly lowered the boat and went off towards the island. They just went and ditched her there. How could they? She was aware that she wasn't one of the oldest members of the big family –she had just joined three weeks ago–, but that was just mean. And they did know that she needed to get some clothes for herself. That irked her, because she knew they were doing that on purpose. That was because someone, one random day, decided to just tell everyone that she and Ace looked cute together and should be a couple. While Azu was dumbfounded _(and so very blushed)_ with the comment and tried to talk herself out of it, Ace just laughed it off, like it the matter meant close to nothing to him.

"What're you waiting for?" a voice brought her back from her thoughts. "Let's go."

"Ah? Y-Yes." She froze on the spot for a moment. When she looked back, she saw him. "I-I'm going…" she said with a lower voice as she stepped down a little more.

She couldn't tell, but there was a small blush on her cheeks. The thing was; she _did_ want to go with Ace. In fact, she had grown a crush on him from the moment he saved her from that cage, on that fateful day. But she was far too shy to speak her emotions up, so she tried to avoid him these past days. Not that he cared about her that way anyways. In her mind, she thought that he didn't look at her the same way she looked at him. While she looked at him with yearning eyes, he looked at her with his usual smirk and weird politeness. Even though the two had easily become close to each other, Azu knew just about nothing about Ace. She was aware that there was something constantly troubling him, she found this out quite a while ago. But she could not tell what it was, because he never disclosed a single clue about it. As much as she tried to figure it out, she couldn't. It worried her to the core, because she often noticed him gazing at the distance during the night. She tried, but she could never bring herself to ask him what could be possibly wrong.

"Oi, do you want to go ashore or not, Azu?" the Fire Fist asked, with a slight annoyed tone of voice.

"Ah yes, yes, sorry." Azu quickly replied and got down.

She was glad he wasn't currently looking at her as they reached his Striker. That was because the blue-eyed girl was very certain that her cheeks were a deep red color. It happened to her every time. Each time he said her name, it made her chest fly and her fingertips go numb. Not to mention the wooziness in her stomach. Azu tried her best to maintain these feelings of hers closed down in her heart, because it would be nonsense to tell him about them. If she did, he might not want to be her friend anymore, and she didn't want to lose him. If he would not talk with her anymore, she would have to take in a bigger pain; the one of seeing him every day. So she remained quiet and kept her emotions to herself.

_**AxA**_

After the long search, Azu was able to find it. The perfect set of clothes that fitted only her. These weren't some altered pieces, these were brand new and for only her to use. Azu looked at herself in the store's long mirror and examined herself in her new clothes. She had a strapless shirt with a small overcoat. This coat had a hood and puffy t-shirt-length sleeves. She wore shorts like before, but these seemed more comfortable in her mind. With her fresh pair of boots, the blue-haired girl happily paid and left the store with a very pleased expression in her face.

"Are you done?" a voice quickly spoke after she exited she shop.

"Ah? Y-Yes, I managed to find something I liked." She jumped and looked to the side.

Azu had almost forgotten that Ace had been waiting outside. Honestly, she'd think he would leave and return by himself, but he didn't. She smiled at that and almost missed him walking off. She also missed it when he commented _'It looks good on you. Let's go.' _ She quickly trailed after the Fire Fist still with a happy face. As the two walk back towards the Striker, in order to return to the Moby Dick, they pass by a manmade stage. As they walk by, Azu noticed that someone is descending that stage. She also notices that there is a micro there as well. Two small sound speakers were side by side to the micro. Azu automatically stopped moving and just stared at the set up.

"Why don't you go too?" a voice suddenly said.

"Ah? Ace…" Azu quickly looked at him before returning her gaze to the set. Again, she failed to notice the small blush filling her cheeks.

"You clearly want to take a go at it." The Fire Fist smirked as he continued to look at Azu.

"W-Well, I-"

"Is there anyone else in our public who would like to try out open mic?" the 'host' asked with a happy smile on his face.

"Yes, right here!"

Ace was faster than the girl's attempts to run away. As he pushed Azu through the small crowd, he could hear the people commenting something about pirates. Honestly, he didn't give a rat's ass about that at the moment. If Azu wanted to sing, he would make sure she was able to do so. And it wasn't a bunch of people that would stop him. He had no idea why he was thinking like that, but he quickly pulled his thought under the rug when Azu reached the small group of stairs. When she looked back at him with an unsure expression, he made a big smile and shooed her to continue. He took notice in how nervous she was when she stood in front of the people. He was about to say something about it, but when the music began playing, Azu relaxed automatically. Her eyes closed and she took in the melody, already knowing the lyrics. Ace watched as she sung, her voice like a breeze of serenity after a heavy storm. Another thing he took notice was the people. They were reluctant to let her sing, but when she did, they all looked as if mesmerized by her voice.

_When you're broken_

_in a million little pieces,_

_and you're trying,_

_but you can't hold on anymore._

_Everything_

_falls down for a reason._

_Don't you stop believing in yourself._

_When you're broken…_

It was the first time Ace was listening to Azu sing. He had heard from her before. When she was still a slave; the patrons made her sing all day long, like she was some bluebird. Now aboard the Moby Dick, she sang every now and then as she did her chores, but he hadn't been able to hear her. He regretted it now as he heard her. Her voice was soft, and very clean. It wasn't too strong or too thin either. It did remind him of a bluebird. He thought it funny for a moment, because her name is Azure and her hair and eyes are also blue. Ace made a small smile to himself as he continued to listen to this voice. Her voice. It felt so soothing somehow. Like his problems were easily vanished from his mind.

_Little girl, don't be so blue,_

_I know what you're going through._

_Don't let it beat you up._

_Hittin' walls and gettin' scars_

_only makes you who you are,_

_only makes you who you are._

_No matter how much your heart is aching,_

_there is beauty in the breaking,_

_yeah_

Ace couldn't help but look at Azu with a dumbfounded expression in his face. Her voice was truly amazing. Even when she sang the song's higher pitches, her voice was ever serene. He had no idea how she was doing it, but Azu had managed to get everyone to look at her in awe, host included. Ace blinked as he continued, and he would have heard the rest of her song, if not for some Marines' appearance.

"Sorry, townsfolk, but we, pirates, need to take off now!" Ace said to the people as he jumped on stage, grabbed Azu like a potato bag and began running towards the Striker after jumping back down.

Along with the Marines' shouts for them to stop, Ace also heard the townspeople commenting on how good and heavenly her voice was. He gave them a smirk. Now they had something to remember them by, and it wasn't something bad. As he easily outran the Marines chasing them, Ace could tell that there was a content smile on the girl's lips. That was because of her often giggles. That made him happy as well because he had taken notice before that Azu wasn't smiling too often the past week.

_**AxA**_

It was nighttime, with a starry dark-blue sky and no clouds. Ace found himself bored once again, and without the need to sleep unlike everyone else, as he looked into the far distance. _Today was fun_, he thought for himself. He got to take a wild run from Marines and he got to hear something he'd never heard before. She really was something. It was like every day he learned something new about her. Of course, he was too smug to let her know about this. It was then that he remembered. It was the blue-eye girl's turn up in the crow's nest for watch duty that night. Without anything else to do, or someone else to bother, he decides to join Azu on the crow's nest to keep her some company. She was a bit surprised to see him up there, as she thought he'd be sleeping someplace else, but they soon start to talk. Their chat topics vary from several different things. When he compliments the girl on her lovely voice, Azu seemed to blush heavily.

"Th-Thanks." She said, shifting her gave somewhere else other than him. "People don't usually say nice things like that to me."

"How come? Your voice's great, really." He insisted with his big smile.

"Because I'm one of those… _unwanted_ people…" she suddenly says with a sad tone. "That's what they kept telling me when they took me from my island. Deep down, I tried to believe that my parents would not throw me away like that, but I was so young, I don't remember much of that day."

". . ." Ace watched calmly her as she continued to speak. His smile became smaller and smaller as she spoke.

"And then, they gave me the…" the blue-haired female dropped her head. "The m… mark… the sign that I was nothing more than an object, for everyone to use as they pleased. So, yeah, they didn't really say nice things to me back there."

He heard her and he'd seen the tightening on her throat as she mouthed the words she disliked so. It only made it harder for him to offer words that could comfort her. He couldn't help but feel worried. Azu was always so cheerful and carefree around everyone. Seeing her like this was something he felt difficult to deal with. Usually, he was good with women, damn, he should the called the second Casanova, but not like this. Not in situations like this one. Azu was, in some way, much more fragile than the other females he'd seen and been with, but strangely stronger than him in other manners. It was then that he realized how messed up they both were inside. She was broken, while he carried the demon's blood in his veins. Maybe they _could_ be a good couple after all. No, no, get your mind out of the gutter! As he watched the girl cry right in front of him, Ace thought it was unbearable; very agonizing, even. The sight of her tears running down her delicate face made him break apart inside. He knew, by long experience, that his kisses could easily wash away any woman's sadness, as he saw it happen several times before. He thought that maybe he should just take her lips to his and kiss all of her fears away. Maybe then she would be able to smile to him again like she used to. Maybe then everything would be okay again. Because she might be broken and he could be the demon's child, but even so, they had the right to be happy, were they not? At least, _she_ had that right, as Azu had never done anything bad in her life. Yes, that was it, he would do just that and he would be damned if he didn't help her. She needed the comfort, and he was willing to give it to her. Gently, he held both her cheeks with his left hand, using his thumb and indicator. Azu, on the other side, felt herself brighten slightly at his touch, even if slightly rough. She also noticed that Ace had large hands, larger than she'd imagined, being able to hold her cheeks with just one hand. Or was she just really that small?

"You are not an object. Not now, not ever, do you understand me?" His dark orbs looked deep into Azu's glossy blue eyes and spoke with an unwavering firm tone of voice. Of course she was not an object. No human is ever an object. Not to him, at least. "You are part of the Whitebeard pirates now. You are one of us. You belong _here_, in our family, so you don't need to talk, nor think about your past like that, if you're not comfortable with it."

Her eyes seemed to glow significantly as she heard him speak. She seemed to be in high spirits with the realization that she was accepted by someone as an actual person and not as a something. That made Azu so happy inside; she didn't know how to express her thoughts. She also noticed that his expression seemed to change significantly after his last words. His lids peculiarly half-closed themselves as Ace leant dangerously close towards her face. His free right hand found its way to the midsection of her back and remained there. His touch on her back was so warm that she thought she would fall asleep then and there. Except she didn't. Azu stopped breathing for a second, eagerly; yearning; craving; wanting. Was he going to do what she thought he would? She bit the corner of her lower lip in expectation as she gazed back at him. Were his lips just as warm as his hand on her back was? Were they soft to the touch if she grazed them? Were they experienced if she were to kiss him? Okay, maybe she stopped breathing for two more seconds, but still. His hand on her back was so affectionate and gentle. It made her feel different inside. It felt good. Safe. It made her feel protected. Like nothing in the world could ever harm her as long as he continued to hold her like that. And then…

"A-Ace?" she couldn't help but ask to the air as his large, toned, warm body suddenly fell besides her. After realizing that he had once again fallen asleep due to his narcoleptic condition, she moved around a little. After a few swift moves from her part, she managed to rest his head on her lap. For a moment she did nothing. She just stared down at his sleeping form without a word. After a few moments, she covered her lips with both her hands, as if to suppress a chuckle. Upon realizing that she would not be able to hold it in, she allowed her hands to fall down to her sides and she just smiled. Azu looked down towards Ace and giggled. After what seemed to be hours, but were only mere seconds, she expressed her happiness. It was a small, low, yet cheerful, laugh. The girl had no idea when it was the last time she had ever laughed like that. She could only remember sadness and loneliness while in her prison, but with Ace, it all seemed to go away somehow. He made her smile with his strange freckles. He made her laugh with his weird behavior and his odd politeness. And she loved all of it. Azu wouldn't change a thing about Ace, because, even though he definitely was out of the ordinary, the blue-eyed girl loved the way he was. She smiled once more. As the sleeping log that he was, Ace probably wouldn't notice if she stared at him all night long. So she did. And she didn't mind. Azu couldn't help but to gaze down at him every now and then with a tender expression in her eyes.

"Yes, I understand now. Thank you so much for everything; _Freckles_ taichou…"

Azu decided to express her gratitude towards him this time with her voice. Looking upwards, to the night starry sky that she so often gazed upon, the girl softly sang, her growing emotions curled up together with each word. She might be broken, but he was picking up her pieces and putting her back together. And she was glad he was the one doing it.

_Better days_

_are gonna find you once again,_

_every piece will find its place,_

_when you're broken…_

_**End of Chapter 2**_

_**-AxA-**_

_Taichou – commander._

**AN:** I finally managed to finish this. I am so sorry for the delay. Writer's block decided to strike me down. It was awful, just awful. The music Azu sings in this drabble/chapter/thingy is _"Broken"_ by Lindsey Haun. It's a nice song, so go ahead and look it up if you'd like. Also, if you want to see Azu's design -as I'm terrible at describing clothes-, just check out the link in my profile. ^^

On another topic, I decided a while ago to take on the 100 theme challenge. So, basically, some of the chapters will have the themes of the huge list. I don't mind, as it will be good to give me ideas. I added the _Introduction_ word to the first chapter's titles, as said chapter actually works as an intro to the drabbles. Lalala~

I would love to read more reviews, people. Was Ace OoC? That's my biggest worry, really. Also, do you want an actual romance scene in the next chapter? I know I said there'd be mostly romance, but I feel like I'd be forcing it out too much if I didn't write some calmer chapters first. The next chapter is depending on you. If you want romance, I'll write it, if you don't want, I won't do it yet. It's your call.

Thank you so much for the followers, favs and reviews. I was so happy when I saw all the hits the first chap got. It was really good to get me through my writer's block, but please give me more~ _*Bows respectfully.*_


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